Outside
of roleplaying reviews, there wasn’t a lot happening this month. No
television reviews. I haven’t been watching anything recently.
There are several things I do want to check out (particularly Orphan
Black) but I just haven’t had
the time, unfortunately.

Even
though I’m not primarily a news site, I do occasionally report news
that catches my interest. This month there was the intriguing news
that the Doctor Who
50th Anniversary Special is going to be simulcast worldwide. There was
also the opening of the York Maze, which this year
is shaped like a Dalek. Finally, there was the first preview of Neil
deGrasse Tyson’s new Cosmos
series. Carl Sagan’s original is a brilliant work, and I am eagerly
looking forward to this new one.

My
reviews on this site tend to be quite in-depth. I like to look at
every
aspect (well, as many as possible) of things and critically analyse
them to best of my ability. However, this does take time and it means
that some things I might like to review I end up not reviewing
because I just can’t fit them into my schedule. So I’ve decided,
every once in a while, to write a few short, quick reviews and gather
them into one post, just to draw people’s attention to their
existence. I thought I’d start with a look at a couple of RPG
periodicals that I find particularly good and useful.

First
up is Wayfinder.
This free fanzine is published biannually under the Pathfinder
Community Use Policy. The most recent issue, #9, was released
earlier this month. The magazine is made by Paizo Fans United and bills
itself as a “Pathfinder Fanzine made by Fans for Fans”. Although
it’s fan-produced, it often has forewords or even articles written
by Paizo staff and/or writers. Each issue contains a staggering array
of articles, new optional rules ideas, and short adventures, as well
as fiction and artwork. The latest issue focuses on the Darklands of
Golarion and contains things like new drow magic items, the
secretkeeper prestige class, and more. As with any publication with a
large number of authors, there is some variability in the quality of
different articles, but for the most part, articles are well-written
and enjoyable.

For
players and gamemasters (primarily gamemasters) of any of the various
Doctor Who roleplaying
games, there is the Diary of the Doctor Who Role-Playing Games
published by the Earthbound Timelords. This
fanzine often contains reviews of Doctor Who
merchandise as well as convention reports. However, its main focus is
on adventures and gamemaster advice for roleplaying in the worlds of
Doctor Who. All three
Doctor Who games
(FASA’s game from the 80’s, Virgin’s Time Lord,
and the latest game from Cubicle 7) get attention in the magazine
with most articles providing stats for all three versions. The FASA
game does tend to get a little more attention, as the authors and
publishers have long-lasting campaigns dating back to when the FASA
game was the only one available and thus have done a lot of work of
their own on that game. Nevertheless, the fact that Doctor
Who games tend to be more
narrative-based than mechanics-based means that just about everything
is easily used with any version of the game.

Every
issue contains several adventures, some fully detailed and some
shorter synopses that GMs can expand as they please. The more
detailed adventures often fall into the trap that a lot of Doctor
Who roleplaying adventures fall
into—that of assuming certain outcomes to various events. I’ve
run a few of their adventures in the past, and I’ve found the best
ones are often the less-detailed ones since there’s more leeway
there for players going off in all sorts of unexpected directions.
Nevertheless, one thing all the
adventures are great for is providing creative ideas and concepts.

Diary
of the Doctor Who Role-Playing Games
used to come out roughly once every month. However, the last few
issues have had very long delays. There was a four-month gap between
issues 18 and 19, and then a nine-month gap before the most recent
issue 20 came out this month. Until 20 showed up out of the blue, I
had actually pretty much given up hope that there would be any more
issues. I’m not sure what this means regarding the frequency of
future issues. However, all twenty currently existing issues are
still available for free download and I highly recommend them.

Saturday, 27 July 2013

The
publication of Ultimate Campaign
in May opened up a wide variety of new options for gaming, from
tables to help players detail their characters’ backgrounds to a
complete downtime system for determining what characters do when
they’re not adventuring, not to mention the kingdom building and
mass combat rules. All of these are things that have only had the
barest of attention (if any) paid to them in the past. But Ultimate
Campaign is a generic
supplement, meant to be usable with any campaign world, whether
published or homebrew. As such, it is easily usable as-is with the
world of Golarion. However, some people may be looking for a
Golarion-specific spin to the rules and options in Ultimate
Campaign and that’s where
Quests & Campaigns
comes in.

Quests
& Campaigns is a very handy
companion book to Ultimate Campaign.
However, I should note that it will be of minimal use to people who
don’t own or use Ultimate Campaign.
While there is some material that doesn’t rely on the systems in
Ultimate Campaign,
many of the new feats, spells, and magic items in the book
specifically affect things from the downtime, kingdom building, or
mass combat rules. Those who use Ultimate Campaign,
though, will find Quests & Campaigns an
excellent companion.

Friday, 26 July 2013

Kobolds
have always been one of my favourite “low-level” monsters.
There’s something appealing about small, physically weak creatures
that succeed through cunning and sheer force of numbers. And despite
their status of being adversaries for low-level parties, it’s also
possible to slap a few class levels onto them once in a while and
challenge higher-level groups, making them quite versatile monsters.
So it was with some anticipation that I opened up Kobolds of Golarion and dove right in.

I
have to say that Kobolds of Golarion
is a delight to read. It’s both informative and entertaining. It
provides an illuminating insight into the kobold mindset and society,
while also providing a wide range of new options for kobold
characters, many of which can easily be used with non-kobolds as
well. As a Player Companion,
the book is unsurprisingly geared towards options for using kobolds
as player characters, but the material is equally usable for NPCs,
making this an extremely useful resource for GMs too, even GMs who
aren’t fond of the idea of players running monster races as
characters. These new options take the form of archetypes, traits,
feats, spells, and so on. Most importantly, the book is loaded with
new options for traps—the things kobolds are well known for being
masters at creating.

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special will air on November 23rd and people around the world will all be able to see it at exactly the same time regardless of where they are. The exact time of the broadcast is not yet known, but it will presumably be somewhere in the vicinity of 7 p.m. in the UK (a typical Doctor Who broadcast time). This means viewers in North America will see it around midday to early afternoon and viewers in Australia and New Zealand will see it early in the morning on the 24th.

Both the Radio Times and the Doctor Who News Page are reporting that the episode has been sold to 200 countries (edit July 28: the Doctor Who News Page has removed the reference to 200 countries). There's something a bit odd
about that number since it quite possibly exceeds the total number of
countries in the world (the exact number of countries can vary depending on the
criteria used to count them, but commonly accepted values put the number around 195 or 196). I suspect there has been an error
somewhere in the reporting and that 200 should probably be somewhat smaller. Whatever the case, this
looks set to be the biggest drama simulcast in history, potentially
reaching more than 100 million viewers.

I'm really quite stunned. Just ten years ago, I would never have dreamt Doctor Who could become such a massive phenomenon. It's still hard to wrap my head around it even now. Here's to the next 50 years!

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

As
part of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting
books, there’s a line of periodic Revisited books.
From the first one, Classic Monsters Revisited, to the more
recent Mystery Monsters Revisited,
this series looks in detail at a selection of monsters related by a
specific theme. Each of the books seeks to add new insight and
sometimes even redefine its subject creatures. Classic
Monsters Revisited, for example,
introduced Pathfinder’s take on goblins, and that take has gone on
to become an iconic part of the game. Misfit Monsters Redeemed(slightly
different title, but essentially part of this series of books)
managed to take ten of the most ridiculous monsters in the game and
make them both interesting and playable, and more importantly, viable
threats to put in PCs’ way.

While
I’ve generally considered all of the Revisited books
to be excellent resources (particularly for games that heavily
feature creatures from a particular Revisited
book), the most recent one, Fey Revisited, is something
of a disappointment. As the title suggests, this book focuses on ten
kinds of fey. The book is designed and formatted in much the same
style as previous Revisited
books, but what’s lacking here is content. Sure, there are just as
many creatures examined in the same number of pages, but whereas the
previous books always provided new insight into their selected
monsters, I came away from this book feeling like I hadn’t really
learnt much new about the fey within. Most of them still seem
somewhat nondescript, even characterless. On top of that, the book
misses the opportunity to make clear distinctions between some of the
very similar kinds of fey it examines.

This
book is not what I expected. To be honest, however, I’m not
entirely sure what I expected. I figured there would be information
on the first Doctor and all his companions, probably also the key
aliens and villains from that era. There would probably also be
advice about playing during the first Doctor’s time along with some
adventure ideas. Most of these things are present in The First
Doctor Sourcebook, but they take
up only a very small portion (maybe 30 pages or so total) of the
book. Beyond these things, I don’t really know what I expected, but
I certainly didn’t expect what the book delivers. The vast majority
of this 160-page book is devoted to presenting each of the first
Doctor’s television stories as adventures that people can play out
in their Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
games.

There
are a lot of different ways you can play Adventures in Time and
Space. You can play as one of the Doctors and any of his companions.
You can create unique companions to travel with the Doctor. Or you
can create your own original Time Lord characters to use instead of
the Doctor. Alternatively, you can play the game without a Time Lord
at all and have an all-human group, perhaps a UNIT or Torchwood
group, or a group of time agents from the 51st century. There are
limitless possibilities, but one possibility I never once considered
was playing out a television story as a game adventure. And honestly,
after reading the book, I would still never consider it.

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Carl Sagan's Cosmos is one of the pinnacles of scientific and academic programming. The 13-episode series originally aired on PBS in 1980 and has since gone on to become one of the most viewed science documentaries ever. In it, Sagan invited viewers to journey the cosmos on the Spaceship of the Imagination. Throughout the series, Sagan explored life, the universe, and everything, combining scientific fact and speculation with awe-inspiring visuals and spellbinding music. It was a series that helped instil a love of science and learning into a great many people and still does today. Anybody who hasn't seen the original Cosmos series should do so NOW!

However, it has been over 30 years now since the series first aired, and while it is still incredibly relevant today, scientific discovery has marched on somewhat and some of the series is thus out-of-date. It's time for a new series of Cosmos, one to update and expand on the original, and to tell new tales of scientific discovery. The new series, fully titled Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, will air in 2014 and will be hosted by none other than Neil deGrasse Tyson. The first trailer for the series has now been released (embedded below). I'm hugely stoked for this show, especially because Tyson is doing it, as I can't think of a better person for it (yes, I'm something of a Neil deGrasse Tyson fan).

The series will air on FOX, which at first glance is a little worrying since FOX (rather deservingly) has a bad reputation when it comes to science reporting. However, Tyson (as reported by IO9) has said that he's happy about FOX's involvement as he doesn't want to preach to the converted, but rather wants to reach the mainstream.

Friday, 19 July 2013

I’ve
been looking forward to this one for a while. In fact, a few months
back, I even wrote a post about how much
I was looking forward to it. I said then that it had the potential to
be either a complete disaster or the most amazing thing ever. After
all, mixing Pathfinder-style fantasy with historical Earth is not an
easy task. There are all kinds of difficulties that have to be
considered, not the least of which is the fact that the very attempt
is bound to turn some people off in the first place. Mixing genres is
just not some people’s cup of tea. But even for those who enjoy
mixing genres, there’s still a lot that could go wrong. Well, of
the two possibilities I suggested, it turns out not to have been a
complete disaster. Indeed,
Rasputin Must Die!
by Brandon Hodge may well be one of the most amazing things ever! It
is without a doubt one of the best adventures I’ve ever had the
pleasure to read, and I dare say it’s likely to be long remembered
as an all-time classic.

Monday, 15 July 2013

The
United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (or Unified Intelligence
Taskforce as it’s been renamed in recent years*) has long been an
iconic element of Doctor Who.
In fact, apart from the TARDIS and the Doctor himself, UNIT is
perhaps the most enduring element of a show that is all about change.
Companions come and go. Even the Doctor changes his form and
personality. But UNIT keeps reappearing. It was most prominent in the
Jon Pertwee years, of course, but has nonetheless appeared in some
form with the vast majority of Doctors at some point or another.

With
UNIT playing such a major role in the history of the television show,
it only makes sense that any game based on Doctor Who
should need to address and describe the organization so that it can
be used in the game, too. This is where Defending the
Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook, a
supplement for Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space,
comes in. The book gives an in-depth look at UNIT and how to use it
in Doctor Who
roleplaying games that feature UNIT in any way, from games completely
about UNIT where there is no Time Lord character and all the PCs are
members of, or affiliated with, UNIT to games where UNIT only appears
on rare occasions, to everything in between. The book contains
material, too, that is applicable beyond just UNIT, such as some of
the new traits and gadgets, as well as the expanded firearm rules.
Defending the Earth
continues the trend of high-quality, well-thought-out books for the
Adventures in Time and Space game.

Saturday, 13 July 2013

This is awesome! The York Maze is one of the largest mazes in the world, and this year, it is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who. When viewed from above, the maze creates the picture of a giant Dalek, along with the faces of William Hartnell (the first Doctor) and Matt Smith (the current Doctor). The Dalek is the world's biggest-ever Dalek image, measuring 300 m long. The entire maze is 18 acres and is cut out of over one million maize plants. There are 10 km of pathways that visitors can make their way through.

Sixth Doctor Colin Baker was on hand for the opening as can be seen in the two videos below (one the press launch and the other a BBC report on the maze). I really wish I could go to this and wander around. Alas, I'm stuck across the ocean, but it's fun to imagine. For people for whom it's in reach, the maize maze is open from today, July 13 until Monday, September 2. There will be a special "Sci Fi Day" on July 27th.

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

A
couple of years ago, Paizo released We Be Goblins! for the 2011
Free RPG Day. It is a short adventure in which players get to take on
the roles of goblins (traditionally a villainous monster race). It is
fun and comical, and good for a one-off session or just a break from
the norm. It would also seem to have been a popular adventure since
this year, Paizo has released a sequel, We Be Goblins Too!, in which
players continue the adventures of the goblin heroes they played in
We Be Goblins!
Although Free RPG Day came and went last month, those who didn’t
manage to acquire a free copy of the adventure then (and even those who
did) can download a free pdf of the adventure from Paizo. The print
version of the adventure is also available for $5.

It
is true that fantasy roleplaying books about non-human races tend to
focus on the villainous ones. This is really not that surprising.
Since the player characters are generally heroes, they need a steady
supply of villains and monsters to defeat. It’s only natural that
most supplements will focus on these opponents since the PCs are
bound to encounter a lot of them. However, there are still good
people around and the PCs need allies too. So it’s good to see a
book that looks at some of the good-aligned creatures of the
Pathfinder Campaign Setting.

Chronicle of the Righteous by Amber Scott
is a companion book to the three-volume Book of the Damned.
Those three books looked at the three main fiendish races of the
outer planes. The first volume, Princes of Darkness,
examined devils. Lords of Chaos,
the second volume, looked at demons, and the final volume, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, looked at
daemons. All three of those books provided information on the
societies, hierarchies, lords, and home planes of their respective
fiendish races in great detail. Chronicle of the Righteous
looks at the fiends’ opposites: the celestials. In particular, it
looks at the four principal celestial groups: the agathions, angels,
archons, and azatas.

Now,
it’s probably fairly noticeable that these four groups are all
squashed together into one book, whereas the fiendish races each got
a separate volume. This is no doubt due to the fact that GMs need
information on villains more than they need information on heroic
allies. As such, four separate volumes of Chronicle of the
Righteous probably would not
sell as well. However, despite having squashed so much into just one
book, I dare say Chronicle of the Righteous is
just as good as the best of the Book of the Damned
volumes (which would be Horsemen of the Apocalypse with
Princes of Darkness a
close second). In particular, Chronicle manages
to provide a wealth of detail on a large array of Empyreal Lords (the
rulers of the celestials, equivalent in power to archdevils, demon
lords, and the horsemen of the daemons), of which there has been very
little detail previously available. Some have had their names
mentioned here and there, but with little to no other information
available. Many of the Empyreal Lords listed in this book have not
even been mentioned anywhere else.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

After
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
first came out a few years ago, a couple of other supplements soon
followed it (a GM Screen and Aliens and Creatures) and others
were announced. It was exciting for people who were both roleplayers
and Doctor Who fans as
it had been a long time since a Doctor Who
roleplaying game had been in print. However, after those first few
releases, the game entered a sort of limbo. The announced products
remained announced but not actually available and nothing new was
released. Word came through that the game needed to be retooled for
the arrival of the eleventh Doctor. But the eleventh Doctor arrived
and even had a couple full seasons and still, there were no new
products for Adventures in Time and Space. Then, last year, the
revised eleventh-Doctor version of the game finally arrived, and
Cubicle 7 assured fans more products were still on their way.

And
at long last, those products have started to show up. The
Time Traveller’s Companion and
Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook
(the two products that waited in limbo for a long time) are both
available, and a series of supplements covering each Doctor has also
begun releasing with the supplements for the first and second Doctors
currently available and further Doctors still to come. Once again,
it’s time for Doctor Who
roleplaying fans to be excited.

The
first of these books, The Time Traveller’s Companion
is a massive 240-page tome full of information about time travel,
Time Lords, TARDISes, and more. Pretty much everything to do with
time and its potential use in-game gets discussed in quite a lot of
detail. Most of the book is descriptive detail, from a complete
history of Gallifrey to temporal mechanics and space-time phenomena.
Adventures in Time and Space is a rules-light game and this book
maintains that, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any new rules
elements here. These are mostly in the form of new traits
(particularly Time Lord and gadget traits) and new gadgets, but there
are also detailed rules for piloting TARDISes, regeneration, and
more. I’m actually extremely impressed by just how much detail
there is in the book. It has definitely made the long wait worth it.